The constructed knowledge about the past could be often visible through different memorial
sites and monuments. Their role and function had undergone many changes. During the
second half of the 19th century all over Europe plenty of monuments were erected which
connected the symbols of the mythical past to defined places in the context of the modern
nation state. After the WWI new practice unfolded among the warfaring countries in the name
of the cult of the soldier heroes. In the second half of the 20th century the in Eastern Europe
communist regimes had been constructing their own memorial sites, which were often used to
exercise power in a symbolic way. However, memorial culture has undergone significant
changes in the Western Europe in that time as well. After the collapse of communism the
memorial practices had been taking new forms, but at the same time many social conflicts
emerged.

We would like to invite scholars (ethnologists, anthropologists, historians, art
historians etc.) who can resume their researches on the following themes: memorial places
and national identities; monuments as the representations of past; memory of wars and
monuments; monuments and commemorative rituals; abandoned memorial places, migration
and change of power; erecting monuments and social conflicts, contesting memories and
monuments, the role of monuments in the constructing of new cultural landscapes,
reinterpretation and changing role of memorial sites, symbols of monuments, changes in the
relation between memory and communities etc.

The language of the workshop will be English. The duration of papers is set at 20 minutes, to
be followed by 10 minutes of discussion. The organisers reserve the right to accept or reject
papers submitted. We are planning to publish the papers after the workshop.
There is no fee for participation in the workshop. Participants are required to cover their own
costs except meals (lunch, dinner) and excursion. Information on accommodation in Szeged
may be found at the following link: www.booking.com/city/hu/szeged.

Applications should be submitted on the attached form by 1st June 2017 to László Mód or
Norbert Glässer at: modlaci(at)gmail.com and norbertglaesser(at)gmail.com.

The spread of public transport in the mid-19th century changed people’s travel habits. The most striking aspect
of this was that the low fares and the speed led to its mass use. This not only had economic consequences, it
also brought change in travel for religious and cultural purposes where new forms appeared: the special trains.
The more prosperous set out to see the world, while religious people visited distant shrines. In one or two days
they were able to travel a distance that had once taken much longer to cover. This circumstance transformed the
means of fast transport, the train, into a special space where people spend days. The train had to be made
suitable for many people to live there together: to have meals, attend to their toilet needs or even practice
their religion. This form of mass tourism also influenced both the places visited on the way and the
destinations. It created the need to operate travel offices, also within international frames, to create and
develop institutions providing services. It therefore influenced the location and space in which it appeared and
operated. The processes that began, the gradually merging railways, stations and services for mass tourism, the
places that started to resemble each other internationally, the virtualising spaces of organisation foreshadow
the forms of post-modern fluid places that we experience today, that have been summed up in the concept of
non-places (Marc Augé). The train became a moving place that connects various other places.

Special excursion trains
The railways enabled the more prosperous sectors and then increasingly also others to visit distant destinations
within the country and later also abroad. The first organised special excursion train departed for England in
1841. This pattern was soon followed by other countries. Travel companies were set up to organise mass travel,
at first on the national level and later within international frames. This favoured a number of spas, seaside
and mountain resorts, and often also towns where travellers broke their journey for a few hours or a day, took
accommodation and visited the sights and museums.

Special pilgrim trains
As the railways grew into a European network, people also reached distant shrines. Long-distance pilgrimages
were revived and grew to a mass scale. This contributed to the popularity of a few shrines, such as Lourdes. But
special trains were organised for pilgrimages within individual countries too.

Ethnological and anthropological research has paid little attention to this form of mass pilgrimages that is
still alive and now has traditional forms in many countries of Europe. These include the pilgrimage train for
the sick from Belgium to Lourdes in France, and in the past decade a pilgrim train for Hungarian Catholics from
Budapest to Częstochowa. The papers presented will analyse the past and present organisation and course of such
trips, their influence on the shrines, as well as the spread of devotional forms, votive objects, songs and
religious souvenirs, within the country and internationally.

We would like to learn about the excursion and pilgrim trains as special places as well as about the
circumstances that create these special places and spaces. Therefore we look forward to receiving papers on both
themes (special trains for secular and religious purposes) seen from the angle of how they shaped the various
spaces and localities of travel, its social environment and frames. We would like to know more about their
organisers, how they were organised, the course of the journey, and the influence they had on the railways and
the destinations. Newspaper articles and books of recollections have been published on the journeys, as well as
guidebooks providing information for travellers. The souvenir industry flourished, as did the use of postcards
from the end of the 19th century.

The train became a special place on which the travellers, excursionists and pilgrims spent whole days, but we
know little about how they passed the time.

These trips also raised special requirements for the trains. They had to be made fit for people to spend several
days on them.

We do not have sufficient information on the social background of the travellers. Groups of various size must
have been formed for the occasion and contacts established between people from distant places.

Formal requirements
The language of the workshop was in English. The duration of papers was set at 20 minutes, followed by 10
minutes of discussion. The two days gave time for only 20 papers.

The plan is to publish the papers after the workshop in the form of studies. Studies may also include
illustrations (images, maps, graphs, etc.). Please find attached the formal requirements for studies.

There was no fee for participation in the workshop. Participants were required to cover their own costs.